PABLO PICASSO (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, France, 1973)."Mass", ca.1896.Oil on cardboard.Signed "P.

PABLO PICASSO (Malaga, 1881 - Mougins, France, 1973).
"Mass", ca.1896.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed "P.R." in the lower left corner.

Attached is a favorable report of Dr. Concepción Chillón's meeting with Maya Picasso in 2013 regarding the work.
Documents: *Dossier with Scientific analysis of pigmentation, spectroscopy and documentary artistic study, certifying its authenticity, carried out at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, issued by ACTIO, UPC. *Article published in Faro de Vigo ("Un Picasso inédito de 120 años ve la luz en Ourense", 06-12-2015).
Provenance: Private collection, La Coruña, until 1964. Enrique Valenzuela Cervera and Luis Gutiérrez Cangas. Luis Vilallonga, Ourense.
Good state of preservation, despite the faint craquelure.
Measurements: 23 x 32 cm; 35 x 45 cm (frame).
Chemical, radiological, artistic, historical and calligraphic studies (enclosed dossier) have authenticated this painting. It was a gift from the Ruiz-Picasso family to their friends and neighbours in Payo Gómez Street, in La Coruña, where they lived between 1891 and 1895. Picasso painted it while he was already in Barcelona (he had entered the School of Fine Arts) in 1896, but the friendship between the two families lasted over time. In addition to its artistic value, this is a work of documentary value, as it belongs to a relatively little-known period of the artist's life. Picasso had entered the Barcelona School of Fine Arts at the age of thirteen, thanks to his privileged pictorial gifts. In his student years he signed his work with his father's surname or with the initials "P.R." (Pablo Ruiz), which, together with the language he had already acquired, helps to date the work (1989-1900). Religious and historical themes were frequent in Picasso's production in those years, under the tutelage of Antoni Caba (see "Roman Interior Scene" and "Religious Scene", both in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona). But it was in the smaller formats, oil paintings on cardboard like the one in question, such as "Baptism" (Museo Picasso, 1895), that we find the religious theme treated with greater spontaneity of line and compositional boldness. In style and technique he was already distancing himself from the influence of his academic masters and also from the influence of Fortuny's preciousness, then in vogue. The scene shows a mass service. It is striking that the mass is celebrated with its back to the parishioners: this is how Tridentine and pre-conciliar (pre-Vatican II) masses were celebrated. Altar servers and friars kneel or bow their heads in reverence, directing their bodies towards the figure of the parish priest, who occupies the centre of the composition in front of the altar. Although we do not see his face, we can imagine him reading a passage from the Gospels open on the lectern. Behind him, the tabernacle glows with candles lit from the candlesticks. These provide a play of backlighting that tones down the blacks and lights up the whites and golds, bathing the interior with intimate qualities that give us an idea of recollection. This work can be compared with "First Communion" (1896), in which the figures also withdraw into their own interior before the sacredness of the event, also arranged next to the altar. Picasso's genius, his rebellious spirit, emerges in every brushstroke of this composition on a traditional theme.
The creator of Cubism together with Braque, Picasso was a turning point in the history of art. He is represented in the most important museums around the world, such as the Metropolitan, the MOMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the National Gallery in London and the Reina Sofía in Madrid.